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Sunday, April 17, 2011

"It's so wonderful to see your chest!"

For those of you just joining me, I am writing about the process of creating a made to order large neck piece for an Australian Bride. The dates at the top of each post show the time period covered.

Dec. 29-31, 2010

First, I would like to apologize for not posting for such a long time. We have been traveling and exhibiting at art shows for the past month, and time as well as internet connections have been limited. But I think I am back on track now!!

So, here's where we left off. Most of the main components of the necklace are finished. I have placed some of the unfinished pieces on the dress form to see about size etc. It was amazingly difficult for me to judge the relative size of the components without doing this.

Meanwhile, believe it or not, I have ordered more beads. I decided that I would need more of the stone "filler" beads- the small round ones, as well as more round turquoise beads. Priscylla has said that she would like it to be more green. So I wait for them to arrive. Meanwhile, my studio looked like a bomb hit. This is typical of what it looked like for a whole month. Every available surface covered with beads of all shapes and sizes!

On Dec. 30th Priscylla and I set up a time for a Sype call. Well, it was the 29th or 30th- depending where you were. Even this was complicated by the time and date difference! This was the first time I had seen the bride. The first words out of my mouth were, "It's so wonderful to see your chest!" So much for good first impressions! But it really was good to see her in person and be able to visualize what this piece might look like on her. She is a beautiful young lady, with great neck and shoulders!

I had the dress form set up and we spoke about some choices she needed to make- specifically which drops she liked better.

Everything was just pinned on, and it was very crude, but Priscylla seemed very happy with the whole thing, with just a few tweeks.

I had also make two different lower components for her to choose from. (she chose the white one)

So it was New Year's eve. Everything was going well. I now had Priscylla's measurements and was ready to adjust the dress form and get started with some "real" beading. Finally. Scary! But time to jump in. So in the next post I'm getting down to it! And I promise I will be posting more frequently- thanks for being patient!

2 comments:

I am so excited about this special piece... it is going to be amazing when you are done... or maybe you already are??? You said that phone call happened in December... How did she like that centerpiece with the owl in it? I think that one is so beautiful.

It's very exciting!!! How have you decided to deal with the weight of the piece?

Thanks, Jeanne. I am so pleased that people are enjoying following this. Yes, the neckpiece is finished, the wedding was Feb. 12th, 2011. I promised the bride I would not start the blog and publish photos until after the wedding.

She loved the owl piece. I was also very happy with the way it turned out.

As far as weight, I worked a lot of wooden beads into the strands. The weight was distributed so that she said it was very comfortable to wear. It definitely was a concern for me, but it turned out that it was not overly heavy.

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About Me

I am a bead artist living and working in Western New York State. I have been beading for many years, but only discovered my real passion for bead embroidery about 6 years ago. Since then I have created many pieces from simple earrings to very elaborate collars.
I sell my work online through Etsy
http://www.bettystephanbeadwork.etsy.com
as well as exhibiting at Art Shows throughout the Eastern U.S.
you can follow me on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Betty-Stephan-Beadwork/134426161640
I have won several awards in national contests, including Fire Mountain Gems and Bead Dreams. I have been published in both Bead and Button Magazine and FMG catalogs.